Leesburg, Va. — When a new school opens, it often takes time for its athletic program – and specifically its varsity football team – to get rolling. So when Riverside High School opened its door in 2015, it was no surprise that the Rams went winless in their inaugural season. Twelve months later, the Rams put together a two-win season and a year after that they won four.
Now, just four years after opening, Riverside is 6-2 and rolling, following their first ever Homecoming win, 10-7, over Dulles District rival Heritage on October 12 in Leesburg.
“It means so much to the fans, and it means so much to us,” Riverside senior linebacker Nathan Ayoub said. “The fans have believed in us for so long, and it’s great to see it pay off.”
[adrotate group=”4″]Riverside senior kicker Gavin Stone got the scoring started when he drilled a 36-yard field goal three minutes into the second quarter.
Unfortunately for the Rams, Heritage had an immediate answer as senior athlete Gio Seigler returned Stone’s ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a Pride touchdown, hushing the Riverside crowd.
“We talked the whole week about not kicking it to him. What did we do? We kicked it right to him,” Riverside head coach Brian Day said. “Welp. There he goes. That’s how good he is.”
As the Pride took the 7-3 lead, neither defense would give in. For the next 30 minutes, 53 seconds, neither offense found the end zone. In fact, the Riverside defense – led by Ayoub – was so staunch, it did not allow a single point to the Heritage offense all game.
“We want to build our program around defense. All the best teams in the area play solid defense,” Day said. “One of my goals this year was to get guys on one side of the ball as much as possible. When you don’t have enough guys, you kind of lose it in the fourth quarter. We were able to hold guys back and then let them loose in the fourth quarter.”
While the Heritage defense had also held strong, the Rams finally broke free late in the fourth quarter. Following two 3rd-and-long conversions, Riverside senior quarterback Trevor Jackson stepped up on 1st-and-goal from the 17 and threw a strike to senior receiver Vince Speroni. After trailing for more than 30 minutes, Riverside took the 10-7 lead and turned things back over to its stonewall defense.
“A couple of years ago, we’d be in a tough situation, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” Day said. “It says a lot about the leadership of our quarterback, who is the foundation of this program. To come back and make a big throw like that at the end, shows what a great progression Trevor’s been able to make.”
Riverside (6-2) will look to win its seventh game of the season when it travels to Loudoun Valley (0-6) on October 19. Heritage (5-3) looks to get back on track when they also head to Purcellville to tango with Woodgrove (4-2).
“We’re a family. We bond with the freshman, we bond with the sophomores, juniors and seniors,” Ayoub said. “This is my favorite year of football ever.”
Dylan Gotimer captured more than 45 photos at the game…
Scoring
2Q 9:10 R Gavin Stone 36-yard field goal
2Q 8:56 H Gio Seigler 95-yard kickoff return TD (Henriquez PAT)
4Q 2:03 R Trevor Jackson to Vince Speroni 17-yard TD pass (Stone PAT)
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